post-doc position - Consolidation of contextual information in auditory cortex and hippocampus

I am taking applications for a post-doc position in my lab at the Neuroscience Research Center, Charité - Medical University, Berlin, Germany. The project (abstract below) will study the role of cortico-hippocampal interactions during memory consolidation in the establishment of representations of contextual information. It will involve Neuropixels recordings in head-fixed behaving and sleeping mice as well as state-of-the-art optogenetic manipulations. Ideally, the post-doc will have 

- experience with high level analysis of large data sets with python/matlab. 

- experience with Neuropixels recordings in cortex and/or hippocampus in head fixed animals.

My lab (https://www.dehozlab.org/) explores the emergence of statistical learning through subcortico-cortical loops using a combination of behaviour and electrophysiology and focusing on auditory memory. It is located in Charité Campus Mitte, right in the Center of Berlin. This specific project would be part of a Berlin-wide consortium on memory consolidation (SFB1315; https://www.sfb1315.de), a vibrant and interactive community. The project is conditional on the DFG's approval of the next round of the SFB1315 consortium and could start as early as July 2022, for 4 years. 

Berlin has an extensive neuroscience community and is an ideal environment for anybody wanting to make a career in systems neuroscience in general and memory consolidation in particular.

 

Interested applicants are welcome to send a CV and letter of interest to Livia de Hoz at: livia.dehoz@charite.de

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Abstract: In sleep, patterns of neural activity associated with learned behaviours are reactivated. This consolidates fragile memory traces established during the day. Reactivation is thought to begin in hippocampus, triggering reactivation in downstream higher order cortices. Compared to higher order cortical consolidation, little is known about memory consolidation in upstream sensory cortices. Here reactivation precedes, rather than follows, that in hippocampus, raising fundamental questions about the role of hippocampus in this consolidation. We propose to test the hypotheses that 1) consolidation leads to changes in sensory representation in sensory cortices and that 2) these representations are shaped by contextual information dependent on hippocampal spatial/relational memories. To this end we will study learning-associated reactivation in primary auditory cortex (A1) and hippocampus, and its effect on sensory representation in both structures. We will selectively activate populations of A1 neurons using different frequencies of sound, and measure neural signatures of reactivation and sensory representation. Taking advantage of the state of the art high-density Neuropixels probes and optogenetics we will sample neural activity in all cortical layers and hippocampus of behaving and sleeping mice. The combination of these approaches will allow us to explore how reactivation and cortico-hippocampal interactions depend on acoustic (work package 1), spatial (WP2), and schema (WP3) contextual information. We hypothesize that acoustic information coded in A1 will help disambiguate contextual information in hippocampus, testing the influence of A1 on hippocampus (WP1). Conversely, we expect that spatial information coded in hippocampus will help disambiguate sound coding in A1, testing the influence of hippocampus on A1 (WP2). Optogenetic manipulations of cortico-cortical interactions and/or hippocampal reactivation during sleep will help us understand the role of local and hippocampal influences on A1 representation. WP3 will explore the role of hippocampus-dependent schema/knowledge sets in A1 memory consolidation. These experiments will contribute to our understanding of the connection between consolidation and sensory representation in general, and the role of cortico-hippocampal interactions in sensory consolidation in particular.

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